A Tyler appellate court has overturned a multimillion dollar judgment a paralyzed Angelina County man was awarded for his injuries from a 1999 car accident.
George Horn Jr.'s lawyer, Lufkin attorney Lonnie B. Davis, said the reversal was based on erroneous facts that were "obviously false" in the case. Horn survived a car accident June 19, 1999, which killed the driver, Eric Hulett, and left Horn in a wheelchair with no function in his hands and the lower half of his body. Eight years later a Sabine County district court judge ruled in Horn's favor and ordered Home State County Mutual Insurance Company to pay him $14 million for his injuries.
Joel Andrews/The Lufkin Daily News |
George Horn, 33, and his mother Gertha Horn share a hug at their home on Garvan Street. A Tyler appellate court has overturned a multimillion dollar judgment he was awarded for injuries suffered in a 1999 car accident.
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That decision was reversed in June by the 12th Court of Appeals in Tyler, and has left Horn, 33, without the money he needs to support himself. His mother, Gertha Horn, quit her job to continue to provide care for him instead of having him placed in a nursing home facility, Davis said.
"I don't know how much longer she can keep that up," he said.
As for Horn, all he wants is a chance to "live life from the start and have the opportunity to be out there on my own," he said. The money the insurance company was ordered to pay would have given him that chance.
Nearly a decade ago, Davis attempted to reach a pre-lawsuit settlement with Home State just after the accident, but the deadline passed without an agreement, according to court documents. The insurance company sent Horn a check for the policy limit of $20,023, which Horn's attorney said arrived a day after the 15-day deadline, said Christopher A. McClellan, executive vice president and general counsel for Home State.
Horn then sued the administrator of Hulett's estate and obtained a $10 million judgment in the case. He also filed suit against Home State for negligently failing to accept Horn's settlement offer and obtained a $14 million judgment.
The 12th Court of Appeals reversed the case judgment, stating there was no evidence to support it because "Horn failed to demonstrate that Home State owed Hulett's estate a Stowers duty."
A Stowers duty includes a criteria needing to be met in civil cases involving a person who has died. Davis said the aspect applied in the appellate reversal is not relevant to the case.
At the time Horn attempted to reach a pre-trial settlement with the insurance company there was no administer of Hulett's estate, which would make the appellate court's reversal based on nonexistent facts, Davis said.
"There was no person over the estate at the time we made an offer to settle," he said. "And the law says you can't release a dead person or estate."
McClellan said Home State respects the appellate court's decision.
"We believe that the Court of Appeal's decision is correct," the attorney said in a statement issued by his office. "We understand that Mr. Horn may disagree, and we appreciate his right to appeal this matter to the Texas Supreme Court."
But Davis said these types of case reversals are pervasive in the courts.
"It is not an isolated incident. The (appellate) courts' interest are in protecting the big business and insurance companies they are backed by, and not the victims," he said. "(The system) doesn't work like they said it did in government class."
Before the end of the month, Davis said he will file a petition with the Texas Supreme Court in hopes it will hear the case. The process could take more than a year.
In the meantime, Horn's medical expenses and needs are being paid for by Medicare and Medicaid funding, Davis said.
The attorney encouraged residents to help by voting for judges who are "willing to uphold the law and adhere to the rule of law."
Davis has high hopes for the case in the Texas Supreme Court.
"We believe we are going to win. That is if there is any justice left in Texas," he said.
